Sealed with a Kill (15 page)
Read Sealed with a Kill Online
Authors: Lucy Lawrence
“That sounds fascinating,” she said in what she hoped was an encouraging voice.
“No, it doesn’t,” he said.
Okay, so much for winning him over with her charm. “You’re right. That sounds really dull.”
This got a small smile from him, and for the first time, he looked at her as if he was really seeing her.
“And what do you do that is so fascinating?” he asked.
Brenna saw Matt hovering nearby with a small smile on his lips. He would no doubt be reporting to Tenley that it was going well.
“I work in a paper store,” she said.
Brian slipped his phone into his jacket pocket and took a sip of his beer. “Oh, now,
that
is intriguing.”
that
is intriguing.”
“Are you mocking me?” she asked.
“A little,” he said. “So are you in charge of the Postits, Lynn?”
“The stationery, actually,” she joked in return. “It requires advanced skills.”
“In paper pushing?” he asked.
“Precisely,” she said. He smiled again, and Brenna thought that she had been too harsh before. He really was quite good-looking.
“Well, since we’re both in such scintillating careers and since my boss seems to be running late,” he said, “would you care to order some appetizers with me? I’m starving.”
“That’d be nice,” she said. “Thank you.”
Matt handed them menus before they even asked. “Great service here,” Brian said.
“Indeed.”
They ordered several appetizers to share, and Brian turned back to Brenna. “How long have you lived in Morse Point?”
“Just about two years,” she said. “And you?”
“A few months,” he said. “I work for Lester and Morse.”
“Oh.” Brenna opened her eyes wide, as if this were news. “Wasn’t one of them found . . .” She let her voice trail off, as if she hadn’t been the one to find Lester’s body.
“Shot in the woods? Yes.”
“Do they have any idea who might have done such a thing?” she asked.
He looked hesitant, as if he wasn’t sure how much he should say.
“Well, the police are very interested in Mr. Morse,” he said. “Being Lester’s partner, I suppose that makes sense. They’re also looking at Mrs. Lester, although I heard she has an alibi.”
“Who do you think did it?” Brenna asked. She kept her gaze on his face, looking for what, she didn’t know, but she didn’t want to miss so much as a flicker of an eyelash.
He leaned close. “Between you and me?”
“Yes, absolutely.” Brenna felt her pulse pound in her ears as a rush of adrenaline coursed through her. This was it. She was going to find out something vital.
“I don’t have a clue,” he said. He sat back with a grin, and Brenna realized he was teasing her.
“Very funny,” she said. “You got me.”
Matt returned with a heaping sampler plate of appetizers, which included potato skins and mozzarella sticks as well as cut vegetables and chicken wings, and Brenna realized she was ravenous. They each dished some of the samples onto their plates.
The Fife made some of the best appetizers in town. Brenna tried to maintain a semblance of decorum, but it was not easy, as the hollowed-out potato skins were stuffed with mashed potatoes mixed with gorgonzola, bacon, and caramelized onions. It took all of her powers of concentration not to forget to question Brian while they ate.
“If you have no idea who killed Lester, then do you think the police do?”
Brian chewed and then washed it down with a sip of beer. “Chief Barker came into the office and asked a lot of questions, but I didn’t get the feeling he had the case solved. Why the interest?”
Brenna lowered her eyes to her plate and tried for nonchalance. She shrugged and said, “Just ghoulish curiosity.”
Brian said nothing, and when she glanced back up, he was staring over her shoulder with an intensity that made her turn around, half expecting to find the grim reaper standing there.
But no, it was Siobhan and Nate. They had just entered the bar, and she was leaning on his arm and smiling up at him. Brenna felt a giant fist squeeze her insides.
Nate looked particularly handsome in a charcoal gray gansey, which turned his eyes a deep shade of slate, over black slacks, while Siobhan had the whole coquette thing going with a ruched crepe minidress in a bold shade of tangerine that Brenna recognized as a Stella McCartney design. She had to squelch the desire to lob a gorgonzola potato at the girl.
As if he sensed her presence, or perhaps because he felt her laserlike stare burning a hole in his forehead, Nate glanced over at the bar and saw her sitting with Brian. His eyebrows rose in surprise. He looked as if he might come over, but Siobhan steered him to the hostess, who led them into the adjoining dining room.
Brian stared at the door they had just walked through as if willing them to reappear. They did not. He tossed his half-eaten potato down in disgust.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’ve just lost my appetite,” he said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time.
“It looks like I’ve been stood up.”
He rose from his seat and threw a wad of bills on the bar. “It was nice to meet you, Lynn.”
“You, too,” Brenna said, almost forgetting the fake name she’d given him.
He strode from the bar, his steps slowing for only the tiniest fraction as he passed the door to the dining room, and Brenna was sure he was looking for Siobhan.
It wasn’t hard to see that Brian was in love with Siobhan. The question was how did they know each other, and how did she know Harvey Lester? And why was Nate having dinner with Siobhan?
Okay, that last one was really just for her, but still. If she was going to get any answers, her best bet had just stormed out the door. With a wave to Matt, she grabbed her purse and hustled after him.
Chapter 14
“Brian, wait!” Brenna called. He was rounding the corner. She had to catch him.
She poured on the speed, but she wasn’t used to running in heels, and she felt a little ridiculous, not to mention nervous about tripping and falling.
Luckily, he heard her and turned around. His face had been hopeful-looking, but it shifted into a frown when he recognized Brenna. Obviously, he had been hoping it was Siobhan racing after him.
“Look, you seem very nice,” he said. “But I’m really not interested.”
Brenna skidded to a halt before him. She was panting and out of breath, so it took a minute for his words to sink in.
“Excuse me,” she gasped.
“I think it’s better for me to be straightforward, don’t you?”
Brenna sucked in a lungful of the sweet evening air and nodded. She hadn’t quite caught her breath yet.
“You’re a lovely woman, really, but I think you’re just a little bit too old for me,” he said. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and gave her a sympathetic look.
“Too old for you?” Brenna spluttered. “How old do you think I am?”
Brian must have sensed danger in the air because he looked nervously from left to right, as if hoping someone would appear and save him.
“I don’t really think we need to get specific, do we?” he asked. “I mean, you’re a mature woman, a cougar, if you will, and I am a guy in my prime . . .”
Brenna wondered how his prime was going to hold up when she kneed it up into his throat.
“Listen, you moron,” she said. “I am not interested in you in that way. What I
am
interested in is the woman who just walked into the Fife with Nate Williams.”
am
interested in is the woman who just walked into the Fife with Nate Williams.”
Brian’s eyes widened behind his glasses. “I don’t know who you mean.”
“Yes, you do,” Brenna snapped. “I saw your face when she walked in there. I’m betting you know her—very well.”
Brenna paused to take a deep breath. She had to play this very carefully. How could she present herself so that Brian would talk to her but not tell Siobhan? If he described her, Brenna had no doubt that Siobhan would know it was she who had been questioning Brian, and that would put Siobhan on her guard.
“You’re wrong. I was thinking of something else,” he said.
“Really?” Brenna asked. “Because I am interested in the man who she just walked in there with, and I want to know what their relationship is. Are they involved?”
“I can’t help you,” he said. He clenched his teeth, as if Brenna might try to open his mouth and pry the words loose.
“Does she always go for older men?” she asked.
Brian blinked at her, and Brenna knew she had startled him. “Has she been involved with any other older men, like your boss, Harvey Lester? I heard they were seen together.”
“I don’t know her,” he protested, looking panicked. “I’m telling you I don’t know her.”
“Is she sleeping with Nate Williams?” she asked. She hoped she sounded like a jealous girlfriend, which really wasn’t a stretch at the moment, to keep him from being suspicious about her questions about Lester.
“No . . . uh . . . I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know her. I don’t know you. Now, leave me alone. Okay?”
Before Brenna could question him further, he spun on his heel and ran away. Brenna let him go.
It was a good thing she had a healthy self-esteem, she thought, as she made her way back to Vintage Papers. Otherwise, his reaction and rejection of her might have stung.
She let herself in the front door and locked it behind her. She and Tenley had agreed to meet here to discuss what Brenna had learned from Brian. She was disappointed that she didn’t have much to offer. She and Tenley were going to have to think of another way to get information on Siobhan.
Tenley was sitting at the back table with a pot of tea and a paper manufacturer’s catalog. She closed the catalog and sat up as soon as Brenna sat down next to her.
“What happened?” Tenley asked. “What did you find out?”
She filled another cup of the steaming-hot nut-flavored tea and handed Brenna a spoon and the honey pot.
Brenna sighed. She hated feeling as if she’d let Tenley down. She stirred a fat dribble of honey into her tea and took a bracing sip.
“He denies knowing Siobhan at all,” she said. “He basically stonewalled me and then stormed off. Of course, I couldn’t very well say I’d already seen them together in front of her cabin. But the look on his face when she walked in tonight said it all. He is in love with her. Ugh, what a mess.”
“Wait. Back up. She came into the Fife?”
“Yes, with Nate for dinner.”
Tenley let out a loud gasp. “No!”
“Yes.”
“Was it a date?”
“I don’t know.” Brenna sipped her tea. She knew she sounded as miserable as she felt.
“It wasn’t,” Tenley said, sounding definite. “The man likes you; he’s always liked you. He could not possibly date
her
.”
her
.”
Brenna could have kissed her. But sadly, she had to face the reality that Nate was on a date with Siobhan.
“Apparently, Siobhan is the sort of woman who likes to be dating a pair and a spare at all times,” Brenna said.
“What do you mean?”
“A pair, Nate and Brian, and a spare, well, that would have been Harvey. I wonder if she is trying to line up some other poor sap to take his place.”
“Wow, I can barely handle one man,” Tenley said.
“In any event, the bigger issue is that I did not get any information from Brian about Siobhan’s relationship with Lester, which means we’re going to have to find another avenue for information.”
“I say we follow Siobhan and jump her,” Tenley said. “Then we tie her up and make her talk.”
“Um, not for nothing, but you have a kind of crazy glint in your eye, and it’s making me nervous,” Brenna said.
“Oh, sorry; I’ll try to rein it in,” she said. She picked up her fine china teacup and took a delicate sip.
“Right, then I think we need to figure out how to get background information on Siobhan.”
“Too bad she’s not from around here,” Tenley said. “The Porter twins would have an entire dossier on her.”
“I wonder where she
is
from,” Brenna said. “There has to be a way to find out. Nate said that an artist friend of his asked him to put her up for a few weeks. But how does this artist friend know her?”
is
from,” Brenna said. “There has to be a way to find out. Nate said that an artist friend of his asked him to put her up for a few weeks. But how does this artist friend know her?”
“Maybe she was dating him, too,” Tenley said.
Brenna sighed. Her brain was tired of spinning in circles, and her feet were beginning to hurt. “I should just ask Nate.”
“Oh, and that won’t be awkward,” Tenley said.
“It doesn’t have to be. I mean, if nothing else, Nate and I are friends; surely I can ask him about my new neighbor and not reveal how much I’d like to choke her for going on a date with him.”
Tenley cracked a smile at her. “You know the one thing I have always loved about you is your honesty.”
Brenna tipped her head in acknowledgment and said, “Likewise.”
There was a knock on the glass door, and they both turned to see Matt standing out front. Tenley jumped up and hurried around the table to unlock the door and let him in.
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